KINGSTON, Jamaica - After suffering interference on debut (August 1) when finishing in fourth place over three furlongs (600m) straight, there were no mistakes this time.
Mister Mandate dispatched rivals in a two-year-old maiden special weight contest run over five furlongs (1,000m) round on Saturday (August 22). This was the second juvenile race of the season.
Mister Mandate (Strong Mandate – Moonlight Brew) picked up the running at the top of the lane and scooted home easily by 2 ½ lengths in a decent time of 1:01.3 for the distance.
Letters In Gold (Christopher Mamdeen) dashed to the lead at the off with Lady Commander (Javaniel Patterson), Bern Notice (Dane Nelson) and Mister Mandate chasing.
Navigating the half-mile (800m) turn, Mister Mandate came up to challenge for the lead with Awesome Choice (Omar Walker) hugging the inside rails while fighting hard to maintain the advantage.
As the field hit the top of the straight, jockey Dick Cardenas let Mister Mandate go and the chestnut colt responded to the urgings of his partner, finishing strongly for a comfortable first win.
Awesome Choice was game in second place with Bern Notice, who had backed out of the pace at the half-mile, coming on well towards the end for third place.
Trainer Anthony “Baba” Nunes was delighted with the victory by his charge.
“This was an improved and encouraging effort from Mister Mandate. The first time he ran he walked out of the starting gates and got interfered with but he showed a nice sign and came home encouragingly at the end of that race.
“He worked well for this race and we took him back to the gates on Thursday last and he broke a lot better. He also broke better today (Saturday) but he needs to be a little sharper and that will come with experience. Beyond this, to tell what the future holds for him, we will just have to wait and see,” the trainer offered.
